Towards Sustainable Waste Management - Popular Summary Report from a Swedish EPA Research Programme

The purpose of the research program Towards Sustainable Waste Management has been to assemble, develop and evaluate ideas for policy instruments for a more sustainable waste management. The waste management should contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the society, for example through reduced waste quantities and increased recycling. It should be cost-efficient and also be accepted among the public as well as other important stakeholders. Our aim was also to develop tools and methods to evaluate such instruments. For example we have developed a package of computer models to analyse the quantities of waste that can arise in the future (EMEC), how these different quantities might be treated (NatWaste), and how this can affect the environment (SWEA). The models also provide information about the cost of waste management and how the Swedish economy in general can be affected by the policy instruments. This package of models, together with our other models and methods, give us a unique capability for the assessment of new policy instruments and the analysis of complex questions on waste quantities and waste treatment. Our assessments and conclusions have a broad scientific basis. We combined the three models above with other calculations and with qualitative analysis and discussions, based on research in ethnology, psychology, economics, etc. This means that we are also able to analyze issues of acceptance and discuss how information should be designed to be effective. People often like to contribute to a good environment, through source separation, etc. However, each individual has a clear limit regarding how much effort to spend. A positive attitude towards source separation does not reach far, when the sorting of a waste fraction is considered difficult. Hence, it must be easy to do the right thing. We found that people who are not satisfied with the waste-management system are uncertain over it rather than unhappy with it. Clear information can be of great benefit, if adapted to the situation and ...